


The Lost Stormwalker

by dog_mu



Series: Shattered Sky [2]
Category: Leviathan - Scott Westerfeld
Genre: Other, Shattered Sky
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-08-27
Updated: 2016-10-07
Packaged: 2018-08-11 09:54:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 13,686
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7886545
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dog_mu/pseuds/dog_mu
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>During a battle with Russian fighting bears, an Austrian Stormwalker gets lost in a storm, and ends up somewhere really strange.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is related to "After the End of the world I will Find You" by mphelmsman and me, set in the same context. This one starts from a battle mentioned in the Leviathan series, in the second book. All the characters, so far, are original.

Hermann peered through the shutters of the Stormwalker, trying to see anything besides the driving rain. A few hours ago, the Austrian mechanical forces had been fighting a swarm of Russian fighting bears. Hermann had killed at least one bear with a shell and several soldiers with the Spandau machine guns. Without warning, a huge storm had blown up and hidden everything. Since then they had tried futilely to find any enemies, or even the rest of the Austrian forces.

In the pilot’s cabin above, Commander Heinz Paeschke asked “Anything on the wireless, Gustav?”

“Just static and weird noises, Commander,” replied radio operator Gustav Gehrmert. The radio operator had heard nothing useful on the wireless since the rain had started, and he was getting tired of Heinz asking. Gustav suspected that everyone was under cover, or wandering around as lost as the Stormwalker.

Heinz rubbed his face tiredly, then raised his voice and said “Might as well just wait it out. Lower the walker, Otto. We’ll sleep in two hour watches. I’ll take the first watch.” He moved to the supplies locker and began to bring out blankets. Pilot Otto Brandt carefully lowered the walker into a stable position and locked the joints. Heinz cranked the main viewport fully closed, reducing the noise from the rain and wind a little. Gustav took off his headphones and started distributing emergency rations, carrying some down to engineer Gunther and gunner Hermann in the lower section of the walker.

Heinz sat in the commander’s chair and started looking at their maps of Galicia. Hermann sleepily watched him for a few minutes. Hermann doubted that the commander would be able to figure out where they were; he suspected that they had wandered far away from the area of the battle. His eyes slowly slid closed as he sank into exhausted sleep.

…..

Morning arrived, still gray and overcast, with a drizzle of rain still coming down. Hermann could see trees around the walker now, but still no bears or walkers. Otto guided the walker carefully through the trees, listening to the feet squishing in the mud, hoping they didn’t slip.

Gustave signaled on the wireless, trying to find any of the other Austrian forces. He listened for a while, then exclaimed “Commander, I’ve got someone! It’s another Stormwalker!”

Heinz swiveled to look at him. “Try to join up with them. Two of us together are stronger than apart.” Gustave signaled to the other walker again, and then worked the direction finder. “North, about 15 degrees,” he said to Otto. Otto nodded and swung the walker to head that way, picking up speed.

A roar from outside snapped their heads up. Hermann looked through the right port, but couldn’t see what was making the noise.

“What in hell was that? That didn’t sound like a bear!” Gustave shouted.

“Some new Darwinist abomination, I’m sure,” answered Heinz. “Concentrate on getting to the other walker before that thing gets to us.” Otto nodded and upped the walker’s speed, crushing aside brush and trees as it moved. The roar came again, louder now. The walker emerged from the trees into a clearing with a road on the other side, and the crew scanned the surroundings for the beast.

“They can see us!” Gustav exclaimed happily, “they’re just a hundred meters away!” Hermann spotted something else on the road, something twice the size of a fighting bear, taller than the walker’s head. It was green and scaly, with four legs, a spine running down its back, and … wings?!

“Beast to the right, about 400 meters!” he shouted over the intercom, and waved for Gunther to load the cannon. Otto spun the walker to face the creature, and braced the legs for a better shot. The creature hadn’t spotted them, but had seen the other walker. It roared again, spread its wings, and rose into the air, headed for the other walker. Gunther’s hands slipped on the shell at the roar, but he held on and continued to load it. The other walker turned and fired its machine guns at the creature, but they seemed to only annoy it. Heinz fired the Spandau machine guns, aiming for the head, with no visible results either. The creature closed to within 20 meters of the other walker, opened its mouth, and breathed a gout of flame directly at the body of the walker. The flame must have gotten inside through a port, because the walker’s crew screamed, and then the ammunition exploded, knocking the creature out of the air and setting the surrounding trees on fire. Gunther finished loading the shell, and Hermann fired. The shell struck the creature in its chest just as it was raising itself from the ground to get a better look at the burning walker. The shell exploded, spraying blood in a huge cloud. The creature screamed in pain and rage, and whipped its head around towards their walker. Hermann shouted “Again, Gunther, again!” as he fired the machine guns at the creatures chest, hoping that the bullets would hurt more on the bleeding wound than undamaged scales.

“I can’t! Something’s jammed!” answered Gunther as he desperately worked the loading levers.

“Get us away from it! Buy us some time!” Heinz shouted at Otto.

Otto spun the walker around and sent it running down the road. Hermann peered through the port, looking for another walker, a bear, anything to distract the creature with. The walker had travelled only a few hundred meters, when he saw something ahead: a gray, glittering wall stretching across the road and into the trees, at least two hundred meters to each side and twenty meters tall. “Obstacle ahead!” he shouted through the intercom, “Stop!” Otto brought the walker to a skidding stop in the road, short of the bizarre barrier. They all stared at it for a moment in confusion and disbelief.

Heinz looked through the rear port at the creature. “It’s distracted by something. Find us a way around … whatever that is.” he ordered.

Hermann looked to the sides and spotted something. “There’s a thinner spot, to right about a hundred meters. Maybe we can get though there.” he said over the intercom. Otto nodded and started the walker moving towards the thin spot.

As they approached it, they could hear the creature roaring again, closer. “I don’t see the spot,” shouted Otto, “where is it?”

Hermann peered at the strange wall. “One more step … there!” he answered. Otto shook his head, but turned towards the wall and rammed the walker into it. The wall resisted, as if it was made of rubber. “Let us through, you verdammt thing!” Hermann shouted. The wall snapped suddenly, and the walker staggered forward, into a brightly lit area. Otto spun the walker around to face the wall, in case the creature followed them through. They stared at the wall behind them a moment before they realized two things: there was no wall behind them, and the only sounds were the rumbling of the walker’s engines.

Then the clouds parted and the sun came out. It stood high in the sky, revealing that the walker stood in a dry field of grain, with the closest trees a kilometer away. The Darwinist creature was nowhere in sight.

….

The crew stared around at the unexpected vista for a few minutes. Heinz said “Uh, let’s reconnoiter.” He climbed down to the bottom hatch and dropped the ladder. Heinz descended and looked around. The grain was wheat, the heads full of seed. “Where’s the wall?” he asked.

Hermann peered through the port and shouted back “I can still see it. It’s about ten meters ahead of the walker, barely visible.” Heinz slowly took a few steps forward, then stopped when he saw a vague blur in the air; in front of it the wheat was clearly visible: beyond it, the wheat was blurry and seemed to wave in a different rhythm than the wheat near them. Heinz approached the wall and reached a hand out to touch it. Hermann said “Uh, I don’t think you should touch it, sir.” Heinz stopped reaching for the wall; instead he bent down, pulled up a stalk of wheat and extended its head into the wall. The stalk was surrounded by sparkly little lights, and Heinz pulled it back. They all looked at the now-headless stalk for a moment. Heinz dropped the stalk and turned back to the walker.

Heinz climbed back in and sat in the commander’s chair. He told Gustav “See if there is anyone around. Try all the frequencies.” Gustav nodded and began to work the wireless’ controls. Everyone settled in their stations again, and waited for several minutes.

“Gott in himmel!” Gustav exclaimed as he suddenly recoiled in his seat. “I’m hearing things now!” he shouted as he ripped off his headphones. Everyone in the pilot’s cabin looked at him; now they all could hear it, music and singing, coming from the headphones in Gustav’s hand. He looked at the headphones doubtfully, then at the others.

“I think we all hear it, too, Gustav” said Heinz soothingly.

Gustav held one of the headphones to his ear and said uncertainly “I think it’s English.”

Heinz keyed the intercom and said “Hermann, come up here and listen to something.” When Hermann reached the wireless station, he put his ear to a headphone. It was in fact English, with a sweet-voiced woman singing “Day will break and I'm gonna wake and start to bake a sugar cake for you to take for all the boys to see.”

Heinz asked “Can you locate that Gustav?” Gustav answered “Yes sir, just a minute.” He worked the controls of the direction-finder and continued “West, 280 degrees.” Heinz nodded and ordered “Otto, head that way. At least there’s someone here.”

“Yes sir, 280 degrees it is.” Otto started the walker moving through the wheat, feeling the crackle as it was crushed beneath the walker’s feet. Gustav called out occasional corrections.

Hermann returned to the gunner’s chair, and stared out at the wheat, wondering where they were and whether he would ever see his family again. He had a feeling he was farther from home than he had ever been before, even farther than when he had gone to Turkey. His mind drifted back through the years.

…

Hermann stepped off the dock in Istanbul, staring around at the buildings and people. He heard the sounds of half a dozen languages: German from some of the other disembarking passengers, what had to be Turkish from porters and officials, and others he could only guess at. Once again, he mentally thanked his grand-uncle Max for giving him this trip as a gift on graduating from school. Uncle Max had attended Hermann’s graduation ceremony and visited his family afterwards. Hermann had impressed Uncle Max with his quick thinking and broad understanding of Latin, and he had suggested that Hermann travel for a year before going to college. “Travel broadens the mind, Hermann,” he had said. Hermann had selected Turkey, in particular the city of Constantinople (or Istanbul as the Turks called it). Turkey was adopting Clanker technology, trying to remake itself as a modern country. It was an exciting place to be.

Over the next few months, Hermann saw most of the city, drinking coffee in shops and cheap liquor in illegal bars. He met Turks, Greeks, and Arabs. His countrymen were interested in meeting women, mostly prostitutes. Hermann didn’t go with any of the whores. Back in Austria, he had had a few casual encounters but nothing serious; here, learning to speak new languages was more interesting to him, until the day he met Derya, a widow ten years older than him.

She was shopping in the market, accompanied by her brother Serhat. Something in the look she had given him had intrigued him; odd, considering that her eyes and hands were all that he could see of her. Two days after that, they had met again and talked briefly. After another three days, he had visited her house. Over the next several months, they had enjoyed an on-again, off-again relationship, with her brother turning a blind eye. From Serhat and others, he learned to speak Turkish, Greek, Armenian, Arabic, and Hebrew. From Derya, he learned how to love and how to accept people on their own terms; at the end, he learned how to say goodbye to a lover without either of them hurting each other. Most importantly, he had learned that people's gender, race, and social class did not define their abilities, desires, or worth as human beings. He knew she had moved on to other lovers by now, but he still missed her.

He had returned to Austria, planning to go to college with the help of Uncle Max. Unfortunately, disaster had struck; his mother had died after a debilitating illness (and expensive doctor bills), and his father’s finances had suffered a severe reverse, along with Uncle Max’s. (They had invested in many of the same things.) Uncle Max was beginning to recover his fortune by investing in steel production and the companies that made walkers for the Austrian military instead of the luxuries importers he had bought before, but his father didn’t have the resources left to do that. Hermann had had to get a job quickly, and the only job he could get was to join the military. Once there, his excellent aim was discovered, and rapidly led to his promotion to gunner on a Stormwalker.

When he learned in July of 1916 of the revolt in Turkey, he tried to find out whether anything had happened to Derya and her brother. All of his inquiries miscarried; either his contacts were not in Turkey any more, or had moved with no word for where they had gone, or he received no answer at all. He had tried, on and off, until the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife triggered the declaration of war by most of the countries in Europe, and his walker was posted to the eastern front. A month after that, they had been sent to a huge battle with Russian forces; a battle that had been interrupted by a sudden storm, and the strange events that followed the storm.

…

Hermann was suddenly awakened from his memories when he saw a paved road ahead and left, running the same general direction as the radio signal. Heinz, watching from the top hatch, had also seen it, and ordered “Get on the road, Otto. We might need the locals to have a good opinion of us.” Unspoken in their minds was the thought “whoever they might be”.

Otto steered the walker onto the road. Its paved surface was reassuringly firm under the walker’s feet. He sped up to just short of a run. Several strides later, he frowned at the knee pressure gauges and tapped them with a finger, then shook his head.

“Gustave, could you please tell Gunther to check the left knee? I don’t like the look of it.”

A few minutes later, Gunther replied “I don’t see anything wrong, but I’ll keep watch on it.”

Otto replied “Thank you, Gunther,” and continued piloting the walker along the road.

A few minutes later, Heinz said “I see a house ahead, on the left. Stop there.” Shortly Otto saw the house ahead. On the porch, he saw a man in overalls holding a rifle, looking in their direction. The door of the house opened and a younger man emerged carrying a shotgun. They spotted the walker and their jaws dropped. Otto brought the walker to a stop in front of the house. Heinz said “Guten morgen” to them, but then shook his head and called down “Talk to them, Hermann. Ask where we are.” He started down the ladder to allow Hermann to go up and continued “Be polite.”

Hermann climbed up to the hatch, and looked at the two men. With a better look at them, he thought they might be father and son. He spoke in English. “Hello. Could you please tell me where we are?”

They considered this for a moment, and then replied “You’re just outside the town of Locust Ridge.” At Hermann’s look of incomprehension, he continued “In Tennessee, in the United States of America.”

For lack of a better response, Hermann asked “Which way to Locust Ridge?”

The man gestured down the road in the direction the walker had been moving. “That way, just a little bit further.”

“Thank you, sir.” Hermann climbed down the ladder.

“Did he say America?” asked Heinz.

Hermann answered “The town of Locust, in the uh, state of Tennessee, I think, in the United States of America. It’s the way we’re headed.”

Heinz considered this, and said “Otto, continue on. Maybe we can find out what’s going on, or at least get some kerosene.”

Otto piloted the walker along the road for a few minutes. Buildings came into view ahead and Otto slowed . He saw some vehicles sitting on the sides of the road, wheeled vehicles about 5 or 6 meters long, 3 meters wide, and 2 meters high, with glass windows on the sides, front and back. Not designed for combat, he thought, civilian vehicles? The sound of the approaching walker brought several people out of buildings, mostly to stare wide-eyed at it. Otto brought the walker to a halt in the road in front of the first building. Hermann climbed up to the hatch and spoke to the locals.

“Excuse me. We’re lost and would like to find out where we are. Oh, and get some food and fuel, if possible,” he said, remembering the meal the crew had had last night on emergency rations and the low level of the kerosene gauges.

A woman stepped out from the crowd. “If y’all want some food, over here’s the place to come,” she said, waving a hand towards one of the buildings nearby. “My name’s Kim Bragg and I run the diner here.” Hermann looked at the building she indicated; the sign read “Dipsy Doodle Drive Inn”. He ducked down and repeated Kim’s offer of food to the crew. Heinz nodded silently; the others were more vocally agreeable.

Hermann stood back up and replied “Thank you, ma’am. We only have emergency rations here. We’ll be out in a minute.” He started to climb back down, but paused and asked “Where should we put our walker?”

“Your what?” Kim asked, puzzled.

“The walker,” he answered, knocking on the top of the walker’s cabin.

“Y’all can park it right there, in the parking space.” At Hermann’s look of incomprehension, she walked over and pointed at an area on the side of the pavement marked off by painted white lines, the right size to hold one of the wheeled vehicles. Hermann looked at it doubtfully. He descended to speak with Otto. Otto climbed up to look and nodded. A moment later, Otto maneuvered the walker into the “space” in a few steps and lowered it into a crouch. The bottom hatch opened and most of the crew descended, led by Heinz.

As Otto descended into the lower cabin, Engineer Gunther Brack asked “Otto, could I speak with you for a moment?” Otto nodded and stepped out of the others’ way.

“I didn’t see anything on the pressure gauges, so when we stopped just now, I looked at the pipes. On the inside of a bend in the pipe for the left knee there is a crack, not quite big enough to get through the pipe, but it might be a problem later. I didn’t know it was there; how did you, Otto?”

Otto chewed his lower lip. “I … don’t know, Gunther. It just … felt wrong.”

Gunther looked at him strangely for a moment. He remembered stories that his grandmother had told him of her friend Monique who had the second sight. Monique had known many useful things through her sight, but had gone insane in the end. Gunther hoped that Otto would not go that way, if he indeed had second sight. He decided to not mention anything about it for the moment.

“All right, Otto. If you ever feel anything wrong with the walker, please tell me immediately. I’m going to see what I can do about this crack.” He turned towards the machinery. Otto descended from the walker in a fog. How had he known? What had he felt from the Stormwalker? He stared at the walker a moment before heading into the inn.

The other three crew members had followed Kim inside, in turn followed by several of the locals. Inside were a dozen circular tables topped with wood glazed with some transparent material marred with occasional scratches, along with four dozen wooden chairs. The crew sat at the tables along with some of the locals. One middle-aged man with graying beard approached the crew and introduced himself: “Glad to meet you. My name’s Tommy Wharton. I’m mayor here in Locust Ridge.” He held out his hand and Hermann shook it.

“A pleasure, Mayor Wharton. I’m Lieutenant Hermann Mickler.” He gestured towards Heinz. “This is Commander Heinz Paeschke.” Heinz, hearing his name, rose and bowed briefly. Hermann proceeded to introduce the rest of the crew present: pilot Otto Brandt and radio operator and machine gunner Gustav Gehrmert. Tommy sat down and Hermann sat next to him.

Tommy said “It’s been really weird lately. We had a god-awful storm a few days ago. In the morning we couldn’t get any of the usual radio stations, and we couldn’t get an answer on the telephone or telegraph. When I tried to drive to Albemarle, I found a wall around Locust Ridge, made out of something like clear rubber. We’ve gone everywhere and it goes all the way around and we can’t get through.”

A man’s voice from another table added “And the sky looks funny, like it’s got a crack down the middle.”

Tommy waved a hand and commented “Hush, Jackson, I’m talking to the man.” He looked at the walker’s crew and continued “You’re not the only strangers that have turned up, though. The morning after the storm we found a little girl we didn’t know, and she don’t speak English or Spanish. We can’t tell where she’s from, and her names Moonette, or something like that. Hey, maybe you can talk to her.”

“I know several languages. I’ll try,” Hermann answered.

Tommy leaned towards the door and raised his voice. “Hey, Luby. How ‘bout you bring Moonette over here so Mister Mickler can talk to her.”

A woman’s voice came from the door. “Yassir, Mister Wharton. I’ll surely do that.” Hermann turned and saw a dark-skinned woman opening the door to leave. He also noticed that two similarly dark-skinned men were leaning against the wall by the door, and several young men of various skin tones were loitering outside the inn. The dark-skinned ones must be “Negros” Herman thought.

Kim leaned between Hermann and Mayor Wharton, placing a steaming bowl of stew in front of Hermann. “We’ve got sweet tea or coffee to drink or you can just have water.” Hermann translated for the other crewmembers, and translated their requests for Kim. Two other women helped Kim distribute bowls of stew and drinks to the crew and some of the locals. After a few minutes, Luby returned with a girl who looked to be about 9 or 10, skin somewhat lighter than the Negros, but with sharper features and hair that looked as if it had been braided a few days ago. She wore a dress like the local women were wearing, but simpler. She was carrying a toy shark, about a foot long, with a cord through holes in the shark’s tail fin and top of its head that was looped over her shoulder. On her left wrist was a bracelet made of copper and some opaque blue-green stone. Luby brought the little girl over to the table and seated her next to Hermann.

He asked her who she was in German, then, when that brought only puzzlement, tried Spanish and Latin. She shook her head and said something, presumably in her language. Hermann listened, but it sounded like nothing he knew. He tried Russian, then, in desperation, tried the ancient Greek he had learned in school. She looked surprised at that, then smiled and answered. Hermann could almost understand it; “Say that again,” he asked her in Greek.

She answered more slowly “My name is Amunet. Can you understand me?”

He replied, “Yes, I can.”

She laughed and hugged him. “Oh thank Thoth! I thought I’d never be able to talk to people here!” He hugged her back, with a little tear in his eye. Amunet let go of him, and he turned to Tommy.

“She says her name is Amunet.”

Tommy shrugged and replied “Yeah, I knew it was something like that.”

Hermann narrowed his eyes a little, but said nothing. He turned back to Amunet and asked “Where is your family?”

“In the city of Memphis. My father Menes is a scribe in the royal court there.”

Hermann repeated this to Tommy, who answered “Memphis? That’s the other end of the state.” Something in Hermann’s memory bothered him, and he turned back to Amunet.

“Amunet, is the city of Memphis on a big river, with desert around that?”

She nodded and replied “Yes, the land near the river is fertile because of the inundations, but away from the river it’s all sand and rock with nothing growing. And it’s really hot there.”

Hermann said to Tommy, “I don’t think she means the Memphis in this state, she means Memphis in the country of Egypt.”

Tommy scratched his head in bewilderment at this. “Huh, didn’t know there was a Memphis in Egypt.”

Hermann summarized the conversation for the other Austrians.

Heinz commented “Then she’s as far from home as we are. At least you can talk to her now.”

Kim brought Amunet a bowl of stew, which was gratefully accepted and appreciated. When Amunet slowed down, Hermann asked her “What’s your shark’s name?” pointing to the wooden shark.

“His name is Ibeh. I guess in Greek that would be ‘Jaws’.” Hermann laughed and answered “That’s a good name for a shark.” Amunet nodded. “A sailor gave him to me.” She tapped one of Jaws’ teeth. “These are made of real sharks’ teeth.”

Tommy asked “What’s so funny?” Herman translated the shark’s name; Tommy chuckled briefly. Heinz also looked puzzled, so Hermann translated for the Austrians; some of them laughed as well. Heinz just smiled briefly, and went back to writing in his journal.

Heinz wrote about the walker suddenly arriving in the wheat field. He paused and thought about it. The change was too strange to easily be believed. A thought struck him: could this all be a hallucination? The Darwinists might have used a mind-affecting gas. He cast his mind back to the opium and hashish visions of his misspent youth. No, this couldn’t be a drug-induced hallucination: everything was clear, there were no changes in the walker, its crew, or their equipment; there were no strange colors surrounding objects. There might be a gas that sapped the will of those exposed to it. But no, that would be too difficult to use. The Darwinists would have to protect their men and beasts. Any nearby residents and their livestock would be affected by the gas. He doubted that the British would risk that; the Russians probably would try it.

He became aware that he was staring blankly at the page; as he started to continue his account, he saw that he had not written the date on the page. “Otto,” he asked, “is today the 17th or the 18th?”

Otto considered the question. “The 17th, I think.” Heinz turned to Hermann. “Is it the 17th or 18th, Hermann?”

Hermann answered “I don’t know. I lost track before the storm.” He turned to Tommy. “Is today the 17th or the 18th, Mayor Wharton?”

Tommy paused in eating his stew. “Neither. It’s the 3rd. Take a look at the calendar over there.” He gestured towards the counter and the machine resting at its end. Hermann got up and looked at the calendar hanging on the wall. Below a picture of a brick building, the page had the 1st and 2nd of the month crossed off, but no other days. Hermann frowned at it, then noticed that it was labelled not “August” as he had expected, but “June”. He opened his mouth to ask Tommy about the month when he saw the number 1952. He pulled the calendar off the wall and looked at the front of it. It read “1952 Brown and Bigelow Remembrance Advertising”. He stared at the calendar. It could not be 1952; it was 1914, less than a month since the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand. It could **not** be 1952. Somehow they had not just been catapulted from Europe to America in the blink of an eye, but they had also lost thirty five years. His mother, Uncle Max, and most of his friends were probably dead. He had no idea what had happened in the war, what had happened to Austria, to the rest of the Austrian mechanical army.

Heinz stood up and walked over to him. “What’s wrong, Hermann?” Heinz asked. Hermann held out the calendar wordlessly. When Heinz merely looked blank, he pointed at the year printed on the front of the calendar. Heinz took it, stared for a moment, then said “Ask, uh, ask him ….” He trailed off.

Hermann turned to Tommy and asked “Mister Wharton, what year is it?”

Tommy stared at him and answered “1952, same as it’s been since January. You okay?”

“No, I’m not,” Hermann answered. He returned to his chair and stared into his half-eaten bowl of stew. He continued “For us, a few days ago it was August 13th in the year 1917.” Tommy opened his mouth, but closed it again without saying anything.

Amunet touched Hermann’s arm. “Are you all right? Can I help?”

Hermann looked at her and asked “Amunet, who is the king in Memphis now?”

She looked confused. “The great Ramses, the second, I think. Osiris on Earth, Lord of the two kingdoms, long may he reign.” Hermann nodded. Now he remembered: the Egyptian city of Memphis was ancient ruins. His friends and family were thirty five years older or dead for decades; her family had been dust for millennia. He covered her hand. After a moment, she moved Jaws closer to him and said “Jaws says it’s really bad now, but if we work and pray hard, we can make things better.”

Hermann smiled weakly. “Thank you, Jaws.”

Heinz walked back to his chair, but didn’t sit down. “Men, I have some bad news. Somehow … somehow we have been sent thirty five years into the future. We are now in the year 1952. We will try to get back to Austria, but I have no idea what has happened since we last saw it. There might be … no place for us now. But we will try.” He sat down heavily. The walker crew looked shocked and bewildered. They asked a few questions for which neither Heinz nor Hermann had any useful answers.

After a few minutes, Tommy said “Y’all look mighty tired. You have a place to stay?” He slapped a hand to his forehead. “What am I sayin’? Of course, y’all don’t have a place. Tell you what: there’s a motel the other side of town, and there’s only a few people staying there. We can put you up there.” Hermann thanked him, and relayed his offer to Heinz and the crew. In turn, he translated their general acceptance for Tommy, who stood and said “I’ll guide you there, if you can take me in your, uh, walker.”

Kim emerged from the kitchen carrying a large brown paper bag. “And I’ve got a few sandwiches for y’all to take with you.” Hermann looked at the bag, startled by her idea of “a few sandwiches”.

Amunet asked Hermann “Are you going somewhere? Could I go with you? It gets lonely not being able to talk to anyone.” At the sad look on her face, Hermann nodded.

“I’ll even let Jaws come, if he promises not to eat any of us.”

Amunet laughed and answered “He won’t eat any of you; he knows you’re all good people.”

A few minutes later, the Stormwalker was building up steam pressure. Otto carefully flexed its legs, and found that the twinge he felt in its left knee was still there, but mostly relieved. Gunther took a bite from a sandwich and said “I did a bit of welding on that pipe. It won’t hold forever, but it shouldn’t start leaking any time soon.”

Otto replied “Thank you, sir.” He raised the Stormwalker to its full standing height. Tommy clenched his hands on the handhold next to the forward port. In the cabin below, Amunet braced herself against the arm of the gunner’s seat, trying to look out the port. Hermann picked her up and sat her on his lap, holding her there.

Tommy said to Otto, “This here’s the main drag. Just head down this street and that’ll take you most of the way to the motel.” Otto started the walker, going only about 10 kilometers per hour. The streets were narrower than he was used to maneuvering in, and he was tired; he had to watch the surroundings carefully. Few of the wheeled vehicles (evidently called “automobiles” by the locals) on the streets were moving. One of them waited at an intersecting street while the walker passed, its driver staring in disbelief. A few minutes later, Tommy told Otto to turn onto another street; about 20 meters along that street was a single-story building that surrounded three sides of a paved area containing two automobiles. In front of it was a large sign reading “Mercury Court Motel”, with the electrically illuminated letters “Vacancy” below that, and more text in smaller letters that Otto didn’t have time to read. He turned the walker into the parking area and lowered it.

Tommy, Hermann, and Heinz got out of the walker and went into the building, through a door labeled “Office”, to negotiate with the proprietor (named James Newman, according to the sign in the window). A few minutes later, they emerged with another man, a heavy-set blond wearing a greasy shirt and trousers.

Mr. Newman stared at the walker and the emerging crew, asked Tommy “And you’ll pay for them, right?” At Tommy’s assent to this, he continued “And that thing ain’t gonna crack my parking lot with them feet, is it?”

Hermann answered “Don’t worry; Otto is one of the best pilots in … where we came from.”

The proprietor looked doubtfully at Hermann, then said to Tommy “Okay, so long as you’re payin’, it’ll be fine. I’ll go get the keys. Let’s see you’ve got what, six people?” Hermann nodded. “Right, each of y’all want a room, or two in each? They’ve got two beds apiece.” Hermann translated the question for Heinz. Heinz looked at James: the proprietor impressed him as someone who would take any opportunity he was presented with, whether legal, moral, or otherwise.

Heinz answered in German, “I don’t think we can fully trust him; two per room would be best.” Hermann nodded.

“Two in each room, thank you,” Hermann said to James. The proprietor went back into the office and shortly returned holding several sets of keys. He lead them to one of the doors, labelled with a “4”, and waved a hand at the next two doors, labelled 5 through 6.

“Sort yourselves out, I’ve got two keys per room,” he said. Heinz took the keys marked 4 and handed one to Otto. Hermann took the keys for room 6, and walked towards it, Amunet following behind him. Gunther and Heinrich took the keys to 5. They all stumbled into their rooms in a fog of exhaustion and confusion.

Hermann wiped off some of the grime in the tiled bathroom and tucked Amunet into bed, with Jaws peeking out of the covers next to her head. He fell into the other bed and was soon asleep, with images of mocking calendars and fire-breathing dragons chasing through his head.

…

Hermann was awakened the next morning by the sounds of Amunet washing in the tiled bathroom and singing a song in her language. He sat on the edge of the bed and stared at his uniform hanging from hooks on the door to the outside, wondering why it looked so odd. His thoughts were interrupted by a knocking at the door. He opened it to see Heinz. “I don’t believe it, Hermann. Yesterday, we could have asked anyone what had happened in the war! Why didn’t we?” He frowned at Hermann.

Hermann stared at Heinz blankly for a moment. “Uh, we were tired? No, we couldn’t have been that tired. I have no idea, Commander.” Heinz started to say something else, but the sound of an engine behind him drew their attention. He turned to see one of the local vehicles entering the parking lot, this one larger than a “car”, with an open platform behind the cabin with wooden boards for sides, occupied by a Negro man, a bicycle, and several boxes. The vehicle pulled up in a space in front of room 6. Tommy Wharton emerged from the cabin.

“I thought that y’all must have been sleeping in your walker, so I fetched over some clean clothes. And Jeremiah, here,” he said, gesturing to the Negro, “will take your clothes over to the laundry and wash them. While that’s goin’ on, y’all can ride in the truck back to the Dipsy Doodle for some breakfast.” Jeremiah waved and started unloading the boxes from the truck. Hermann thanked him and went to help Jeremiah, while Heinz knocked on the other doors to inform the other crew members. Tommy looked at Hermann oddly, but said nothing. Amunet came to the door of number 6 to watch.

Jeremiah pulled a paper bag from the truck bed and said “And Luby picked out a clean dress and shift for the little girl,” holding out the bag to Amunet. She exclaimed happily, ran out to him and took the package. She looked inside and bowed to Jeremiah, speaking in her language. Jeremiah bowed back to her and continued to unload boxes. Tommy watched, almost with a sneer on his face. Hermann said nothing, but merely smiled at Amunet.

Heinz returned. “Ask him about the war,” he said, gesturing to Tommy. Hermann nodded and turned to Tommy.

“What happened in the war, after 1917?” Tommy leaned against the side of the truck.

“Well, I was just a kid then, in World War one. Let’s see, was your country with Germany?” At Hermann’s nod, he continued, “Then I got bad news for you: Germany lost the war bad. Then they had another war later, in the Thirties and Forties, and lost again, even worse. I was in that one, a little.”

“What exactly happened to Austria-Hungary?” Hermann asked. Tommy shrugged.

“Don’t know for sure; I didn’t do too well in history class.”

“Do you have a library in town?”

“Sure thing, Mister Mickler. The librarian will be happy to help you. I can drop you off there after breakfast.” Tommy waved his hand dismissively. The rest of the walker crew emerged from their rooms and began to look through the contents of the boxes, holding the clothes against their bodies for size. Shortly, they were showered, shaved, and dressed like the locals. They handed their uniforms and underclothes to Jeremiah, who put them in individual paper bags in a small wire cart behind his bicycle. He assured them that their clothes would be finished by that evening, and pedaled off to his laundry. The crew and Amunet climbed into the back of the truck and rode to the Dipsy Doodle Drive Inn for breakfast.

…

After breakfast, Heinz gave the crew their orders. Mayor Whorton had arranged for Heinz, Otto, and Gustav to work small jobs to pay for the kerosene to fuel the walker, which had to be gathered from various places in Locust Ridge. Gunther would inspect the walker, repairing what he could, and making a list of parts needed for full repairs. Hermann would go to the library and research what had happened in the Great War (or as it was now known, World War I).

The truck dropped Hermann and Amunet off in front of the library, a building made of white stone blocks, designed to resemble a Greek temple, but with red brick steps and beds of flowers in front. Above the double doors, a sign read "Locust Ridge Public Library". Hermann climbed the steps and entered. Inside he saw a white cork board with several notices pinned on it, shelves of books in the distance, and a long wooden desk with a woman working behind it. She looked up at them, and immediately stood and walked towards them. "Hello, I'm Miriam Walker, the head librarian here. Mayor Wharton told me that you needed to do some research here, Mr. Mickler." She glanced down at Amunet. "And this is ..?" She looked quizically at Hermann.

"This is Amunet, daughter of Menes. The only language she speaks that I know is ancient Greek. She's, uh," Hermann paused, took a deep breath and continued, "She's from ancient Egypt, from when Ramses the second was king."

Miriam looked at Hermann for a moment, then looked at Amunet. "Well, she's the right ethnic type, from what I've read."

Hermann gasped and said "You believe that?"

"It's not much stranger than what has happened to Locust Ridge, or you and your walker." She shook her head. "Something really weird is happening here, and lots of other places I'd say, since you're both here." She gestured to include Amunet and Jaws with Hermann.

Hermann was about to reply, when Amunet suddenly tugged on his sleeve. When he looked down at her, she said "There's some children over there. May I go play with them, please?" Hermann's eyes followed her pointing finger to a group of laughing children. He smiled at her.

"Of course. I'll be right here." She bounded off towards them. He watched her join them, then turned back to Miriam. "It's a shame they don't have any languages in common, unless one of them knows Greek?" he finished hopefully.

"No, the only foreign language any of them is likely to know is Spanish, and that's way too recent for her to know," Miriam answered. "Now, Mayor Wharton wasn't very specific when he talked to me, other than mentioning The Great War. What do you need to know?"

"I need to know what happened to Austria-Hungary in that war. I'd like to go back home if I can, well as close as ...." he trailed off uncertainly.

Miriam looked sympathetic. “This sounds like it will be complicated. Sit down here and tell me what you need to know,” she said, gesturing to a nearby table. He sat down and put his head in his hands for a moment.

“It started a few days ago, with a battle,” he began.

After a moment, Miriam interrupted him. “Wait, wait. You say you were in a whole regiment of walkers, fighting packs of giant Russian bears. There’s one problem with that: I never heard anything about war machines like your walker, or giant modified bears. Something is wrong here.” She rushed over to a bookshelf, grabbed a book, plopped it down in front of Hermann, and opened it. “This is what was used in the last two world wars.” She pointed to a picture of a tracked vehicle, with a large cannon mounted on its top. Hermann started reading; the vehicle, called a “tank” for no reason Hermann could see, was listed as having been used by the British and French in World War I, and by all the sides in World War II. He hadn’t yet finished the article, when Miriam placed a magazine next to the first book. “This is the closest I’ve seen to your walker.” The cover of the magazine showed a machine similar to the Stormwalker, but smaller and with straighter legs. “This is speculative fiction. So far as I know, nobody has ever used anything like this in war. And modifying animals like creating giant fighting bears, we just barely know how genetic materials works; nothing even close to that has ever been done.” She sat in the chair next to his and looked exasperated.  
He looked at the title of the magazine: Astounding Science Fiction.

“Those things couldn’t possibly have been forgotten in less than forty years,” he said slowly. He thought _unless I’m insane_ , but before he could say that, Miriam suddenly gasped, and leaped to her feet.

“Wait a minute, I think I’ve got it! Wait here!” She dashed off, returning in less than a minute. “Here, look at this!” She opened another book to reveal the title “Sidewise in Time”. “It’s about how there are different versions of reality, alternate histories where things happened differently. Your present can’t be our past, it must be some other version of history!”

“If this isn’t the future of my world, then … then my world must still be there. My family, the rest of my regiment, they’re all still there!” He leaped to his feet. “I can go back to them! We can go back home!”

He pulled Miriam to her feet and spun her around. Amunet and the children watched in amazement as he shouted, “I CAN GO BACK HOME!”


	2. Looking for home

After Hermann's epiphany, he and Miriam spent half of the morning writing down his experience from the storm until reaching Locust Ridge, including all the details he could remember.  

 

The second half, they tried to compare the history of his world with Miriam’s world’s history. The biggest differences were the development of walkers in his world, versus wheeled and tracked vehicles in hers, and Charles Darwin’s manipulation of life threads, while in Miriam’s world they barely understood the nature of genetic material.  A smaller, but striking difference, was the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife: in this world the second attempt in the streets had succeeded, instead of requiring poison at the banquet in the evening.  All the differences they could find seemed to derive from these.

 

At lunchtime, the children went to their homes, and Hermann and Amunet followed Miriam to her apartment, two blocks from the library.  

 

“Sorry, this is about the limit of my cooking skills,” she said sheepishly, as she served them slices of fried ham, coarsely ground corn, and a salad of assorted vegetables. “I decided I had to learn how to cook grits, since it's very popular here,” indicating the ground corn.

 

“That's all right, I've been eating army food and emergency rations for weeks now, anything would be better. Although this smells delicious.”

 

She blushed, stammered “Thank you,” and sat down at the table. Amunet offered up a brief prayer in her language; Hermann and Miriam politely bowed their heads until she finished.

They ate mostly in silence, except for Hermann praising the salad, and Amunet asking about the mustard when she saw him putting it on his ham.

 

…

 

After lunch, they returned to the library.  The other children returned from their lunches; one of them had found an article on ancient Egypt in an encyclopedia, and they all drew pictures in that style.  Amunet helped by writing their names in hieroglyphics.  

 

She drew the most elaborate picture of all, showing her and Jaws in the middle, Hermann and the walker on the left, and Miriam and the library on the right. The gods Horus and Nephthys hovered protectively over Hermann, and Isis and Thoth over Miriam; over the whole group, Ra sat on his throne and extended his hand.  She had labelled each figure with its name in hieroglyphic form, and left a space for Miriam to fill in the equivalent in the Latin alphabet.  It was all done in bright colors, using something called ‘crayons’; Miriam explained that these were wax mixed with pigment.  Amunet complained that she had originally planned to include the other members of the walker’s crew and Luby and Jeremiah, but didn’t have the room to do that properly.  Hermann noticed that she had drawn the Stormwalker in the Egyptian style, with the legs seen from the side and the cabin from the front, complete with the cannon in the belly and both pairs of machine guns, on the top and the bottom, and the crest of the double-headed eagle made of machine parts drawn with most of its details. It was an impressive work of art.

 

Miriam suggested that they make a list of languages they knew.  Hermann spoke German, English, Latin, Spanish, Greek (both classical and modern), Turkish, Arabic, Armenian, and Hebrew, with a few words of Yiddish and Russian.  Miriam spoke English, Latin, German, French, a little Arabic and Welsh, and knew how to say hello, goodbye, and “I don't speak this language” in several more.  “I thought that was a good phrase to know to prevent misunderstandings,” she said in response to their amusement. Amunet demanded to be taught these phrases immediately, but accepted a promise to do that over the next few days.  Asked about her languages, she listed her native language, Greek (from merchants), the language spoken by some very dark-skinned people from far south of Egypt (learned from a friend’s servant, unknown to both Hermann and Miriam), and bits of Arabic and ‘sea people’ (probably Phoenician, Miriam suggested).  She knew a lot of hieroglyphic writing and all of the hieratic form of Egyptian. (Hermann hadn't known there **were** two forms of Egyptian, only having heard of hieroglyphics.) Amunet and Miriam explained the difference to him, with examples provided by Amunet with a pencil on lined paper.  In the middle of this process, it struck Hermann how surreal the situation was: an Austrian soldier from 1917 listening to a librarian from 1952 America and a scribe’s daughter from the time of Ramses the Great.

 

The rest of the afternoon, they recorded their experiences in journals, starting with the storm and continuing to the present, trying to put in all the details they could remember, in case something turned out to be important later. Amunet wrote her account in hieratic on the left-hand pages, and Hermann wrote a translation in Greek and English on the right-hand pages.  Privately, Hermann thought that this wouldn’t be any help, but figured Miriam, as a librarian, needed to have things written down.

 

…

 

That evening in the Dipsy Doodle Drive Inn, Kim served them sandwiches of fried ground beef, tomatoes, and lettuce, (called ‘hamburgers’ for no reason they could explain to Hermann) with fried potatoes and coleslaw. Hermann and Miriam explained what they had learned to the other members of the walker’s crew and the townspeople present.

 

Tommy shook his head. “Don’t make no sense to me, but if’n you think it’d work that way, you can go ahead and try. I don't understand what's been happening lately.”

 

“If it can get us back to our regiment, I'll try almost anything,” Gunther said.

 

Heinz nodded. “It makes about as much sense as this entire situation does. Let’s do it.”

 

Gustav added “I'd like to take some radios home with us, Commander. Sending voices over radio could save a lot of time. Maybe our scientists can take them apart and make more.”

 

Miriam replied “I could lend you a few books as well. That would help a lot.” The walker crew looked startled when she spoke; Hermann realized they weren't expecting a woman to be so knowledgeable and active, or to speak such excellent German.

 

“Thank you, Fraulein Walker. It would indeed,” Heinz replied.  When Hermann translated the exchange for the townspeople, Tommy immediately brightened up.

 

“Now **that** I can help with! I've got a CB radio I can give you, and I'm sure I can scrounge up a few regular radios.”  Gustav smiled when this was translated, although the ‘CB’ part required some explanation by Miriam.

 

After the explanation, Gustav continued “I'd like to take a ‘television’ set, but one would be way too big to carry.” _We'll have to come up with a German word for that_ Hermann thought, _maybe ‘Fernseher’ to match the Greek and Latin roots_.

 

Hermann translated this for Tommy, who answered “Yeah, I don't think one would even fit through the hatch of your walker.”  Hermann tried to visualize lifting the television set in his motel room into the walker without a crane, and definitely agreed.

 

Miriam replied “That's all right, Corporal Gehrmert, I've got books explaining the principles. I don't completely understand them, but I'm sure someone in your world could.”

 

Hermann stared off into the distance briefly, thinking about what he had learned about television, and radar too. From the description of radar, it was something that had been rumored for years in his world,  as a wish in the Austrian-Hungarian military and a frightening story in the British.  But being able to send _pictures_ hundreds, even thousands, of miles was something he had never heard of or imagined. He had to take the townspeople’s word for how realistic the pictures looked normally, because all any of the channels had shown since the big storm was a ‘test pattern’, which was impressive enough for him. He shook his head to clear it of the astonishment.

 

Miriam looked at him oddly, and he whispered “television.”  She looked understanding and touched his hand reassuringly for a second.  He found himself wishing she had left it there.

 

They discussed the logistics of their return to the battlefield. Gustav said he could wire the CB radio into the walker’s electrical system; Heinz agreed with this. The kerosene was already loaded, half in its fuel tanks and half in metal cans containing five gallons each (about 19 liters). The other radios and the books could be stashed in the ammunition locker for now, since they had used most of their shells and machine gun ammo in the battle. The food lockers were mostly full of beans, dried meat, and bread in paper bags sealed with wax; some freshly cooked food would be loaded at the last minute.  Gunther reported that half the needed repairs had been done, and he had enough spares to finish the rest and cover some battle damage if needed.

 

They had discussed everything that Hermann could think of, when Miriam drew a deep breath and spoke. ‘One more thing, Commander,  I think I should go along with you.”

 

The crew all stared at her in astonishment. “Just why should we allow that, Fraulein Walker?” Heinz asked.

 

“I speak some languages that none of your crew do,  and I am the closest thing to a scientist and philosopher that is available.”

 

Heinz considered this in silence.  While he was thinking, Amunet whispered to Hermann, “What did she say?”

 

“That she should go with us.”

 

“Well, obviously she should!  You said her family name means ‘walker’, and that's what your vehicle is called, too. Jaws says that means she's supposed to go with us.”

 

He stared at Amunet. “You say ‘us’ like you're assuming you will go, too.”

 

“Last night I had a dream. The three of us and your father and uncle were visiting your mother's grave. That means both of us have to go with you, and that we'll get back to your family.”  Hermann was flabbergasted. He had said nothing about his family since they had arrived here, in fact had told the other members of the crew nothing. Heinz might have heard about his mother dying from his army records, but was unlikely to have said anything about it. How did Amunet know?

 

Heinz looked at Amunet and asked Hermann “What did Amunet say?”

 

Hermann translated her statement into German, and added “and I haven't told her anything about my family. “

 

Gunther raised an eyebrow and responded “She has second sight,  Commander. We might need that on our quest.”

 

Heinz looked at Gunther,  then back at Amunet. “Has she had dreams like this before?”

 

On being asked this, she answered “I dreamed that my cousin Thutmose was going to fall off his horse and break three teeth two days before it happened. I dreamed about Jaws coming to my house the night before my friend Khasim showed up with him and said a shipmate had just made him and when he saw Jaws he just knew he should be with me. And I dreamed that my aunt would give birth to a boy and a girl four days before she did and that was half a moon before the midwife said. And…”  Hermann cut off her babbling and simply told Heinz yes.

 

The commander looked at her for a moment.  “All right,  I'll believe she's got second sight.  We'll bring both of them along.  Any complaints?” He swept the rest of the crew with his eyes.  They shook their hands in silence.  “We'll finish preparing the walker tomorrow, and head out morning of the day after.”  He turned his attention to the last of his fried potatoes.

 

Tommy looked confused, and asked “What just happened here?” Hermann explained, and Tommy answered dubiously “Well, neither Miz Walker nor Amunet is a native of Locust Ridge, so they're free to go, I guess.”

 

Miriam responded “I can get Mrs Orbison and her daughter Janie Sue to take over the library while I'm gone, and I'll give Maisie Tetley a key to my apartment so she can water the plants.”  She bit into the last of her hamburger with a determined expression.  Hermann was secretly glad that Heinz had agreed, but thought _Heinz believing in second sight?  This just keeps getting stranger and stranger._

 

They finished dinner, and the walker crew, Amunet, and Miriam climbed into the back of the truck. Hermann helped Miriam up, though he noticed that she really didn't need it. Amunet scrambled up without a problem.  Jeremiah fussed a little about making sure Miriam and Amunet were securely seated on a large toolbox. Miriam thanked him, and Amunet bowed from the waist. Jeremiah grinned, hopped down, and got into the driver's seat.

 

The walker crew happily talked about what they would do when they got back, or tried to guess how the battle had gone. Amunet sang quietly and whispered to Jaws.   Hermann and Miriam speculated about the possibilities of different worlds, but this foundered on their lack of information, with Miriam’s comment “A sample size of two makes it difficult to draw any conclusions.”

 

A sudden thought struck Hermann. “Actually, it might be three. After the storm passed, the walker was in a forest. I don't think there were trees like that near the battlefield. We must have gone through a hole between worlds during the storm. It was raining and thundering enough we wouldn't have noticed it.”

 

“I'm seeing a pattern here,” she answered. “A storm interrupted your battle, and you stumbled through a hole. Locust Ridge had a storm, and Amunet turned up. Speaking of whom, how did she end up here?”

 

“Good question.” He turned to Amunet and asked her “How did you get from Memphis to here?”

 

“I was visiting some friends of mine at the docks when the wind started blowing lots of sand over the city! I hid under some boxes, and fell asleep. When I woke up I was somewhere I didn't recognize, and when I tried asking people which way back to the Street of the Scribes, no one could understand me.  I sat down to rest, and Luby found me, so I went with her to her house, since I was hungry. Oh, you need to tell Luby and Jeremiah thanks from me before we leave town.”

 

“I'll do that for you, Amunet.” He translated this for Miriam.

 

She commented “I'll have to learn Greek, and Egyptian,  I guess.”

 

“Me, too, and Amunet German and English.”   _Why are we assuming the three of us will still be together after I find my way home, and find a way back to Egypt for Amunet?_ he wondered.   _Do I want us to be? Yes, I do,_ he decided. He had a sudden image of himself, Miriam, and Amunet as a family, eating dinner at home after a hard day manning a Stormwalker, checking out books, and copying royal decrees.  It was bizarre, and strangely attractive.

 

Miriam, unaware of his thoughts, continued “In each case the weirdness starts with a storm that’s unusually severe.  After that, there are strange walls that show plants blowing in non-existent winds, holes that lead to different times and worlds, and who knows what else. If the area you were in after the storm is a different world, that just means we would need to look for two holes, instead of only one.  Not impossible, just more time.”

 

The truck reached Miriam’s apartment, and she, Hermann, and Amunet got down from the truck and  walked up to the door. “We'll see you tomorrow, “ Hermann said. Amunet hugged her, and was hugged back. Miriam turned,  unlocked the door and went in with a final wave. Hermann got back into the truck and rode to the Mercury Court Motel in a daze.

 

After they got off the truck, Jeremiah handed them paper bags containing their now-clean clothes.  Heinz stopped Hermann before he went into the motel room. “Are you thinking of getting ... involved with Fraulein Walker? It could be dangerous if you do, for both of you.”

 

Hermann didn't have to think about that. “I think it's too late to prevent that.”  Heinz nodded and turned away towards number 4.

 

In room number 6, Amunet headed for the bathroom, while Hermann took out his uniform, intending to hang it up on the hook on the door.  He started to, but was distracted by a small repair to the shirt: a few centimeters of the seam on the bottom of the left side had been sewn back up, and it somehow stood out to him, despite being almost exactly the same color as the shirt. He stared at it, trying to figure out why he saw such a contrast. The sleeve of the shirt he was wearing presented the same contrast to his uniform shirt.  There was a kind of glow, almost, around his uniform shirt (except for the new thread) and around his hands. Looking around at his equipment, he saw that everything he had brought from his world had the same ‘glow’, and nothing that was from this world did.  Then Amunet came out of the bathroom,  and he saw that she, Jaws, and her bracelet had a glow, different from the one around his equipment.  He was seeing, or sensing, things that weren't native to this world. She looked at him and smiled.

 

“You are seeing new things now. We will all see more before this is finished.”

 


	3. Meeting the Neighbors

The next day was devoted to preparing to leave.  Gunther and Otto completed several small repairs, cleaned the guns, and made sure the spare parts, original and acquired, were securely stowed.  Gustav wired in the CB radio and one of the regular radios,  including a circuit that let him switch their power source to an automobile battery, in case they were needed while the engines were off.  Heinz and Hermann gathered clothing, maps, books, and extra pistols and rifles.  Hermann also supervised the cutting of a path through the wheatfield up to, but not quite to, the wall, and the placement of flags to mark the hole, since he could see where it was better than anyone else.  Miriam and Amunet packed their clothes and other baggage.  Luby, Jeremiah, and several other townspeople packed bedrolls for the crew.  Tommy gathered letters and addresses from the townspeople, in case the crew met someone the townspeople knew. Kim Bragg supplied them with a hot lunch, coffee, tea, and snacks. Two dozen teenagers ran miscellaneous errands.  Almost all the townspeople dropped by to offer encouragement, or simply to watch.

 

Hermann took a few minutes to tell Heinz privately what he had begun to sense.  Heinz considered this for a moment, then said “That sounds very useful.  I don’t think it's a coincidence that you can do that, especially since Otto is feeling problems with the walker he shouldn't be able to, and I am sensing people’s emotions.”  Hermann agreed; he remembered fairy tales where the hero gained special abilities needed for his quest.  Not all of those ended well for the hero or his companions.

 

Late in the afternoon, Heinz held a briefing, informing the crew of the new abilities developed by Hermann, Otto, and himself.  Gustav wondered aloud whether anyone else was gaining abilities, but no one volunteered anything.  Miriam spent several minutes asking questions to get a clear idea of the limits of the abilities, mostly in vain.  In frustration, she reserved an entire journal for each member of the crew, with tests for those who had manifested powers.

 

They convened at the Dipsy Doodle Drive Inn that night, tired but eager to go.  They hardly paid any attention to what they were eating, while they talked of what they might find.  At the end of the evening, Tommy broke out what he called ‘the good stuff’: a liquor that his brother Billy had distilled, several gallons of it. Heinz, after tasting it, limited the crew to two glasses each. Miriam only drank one glass, slowly; she allowed Amunet to have a few sips of it, well diluted in tea. Tommy and the other locals saw no reason to restrain themselves, however, and several of them got quite drunk, passing out or staggering off with an equally inebriated lover.  One of them, Fred Jackson, remained upright and mobile even after consuming an entire gallon by himself, at which point Tommy cut him off ‘so there’s some left for the rest of us’.  The crew boarded the truck in a pleasant glow, and at Miriam’s door, she hugged Hermann good night. At the motel, he crawled into bed and was almost instantly asleep. 

 

…

 

In the morning, the crew rode the walker to the diner to eat breakfast, accompanied by about thirty townspeople, most of them extremely hungover. Miriam and Amunet had no problems, and none of the stormwalker crew had more than mild headaches. Fred Jackson was obnoxiously cheerful, remarking several times that he never got hangovers. Kim gave out several doses of her family hangover cure, containing ingredients like red pepper and tabasco; Miriam whispered to Hermann that the main action of the cure was to distract the sufferers and motivate them to drink several glasses of water.

 

Outside the diner, Tommy gave a short speech wishing the crew luck, then a brief prayer for their safety. Hermann suspected that only his hangover prevented him from continuing at length.  Heinz thanked the townspeople for their help, although his accent made it difficult for them to understand.  They cheered anyway.

 

The crew boarded the walker.  Hermann noted that Miriam was wearing loose fabric pants, instead of a skirt, and durable leather boots.  Amunet wore a shirt, pants, and boots borrowed from one of the local children. The crew members had put on their cleaned and mended uniforms and looked quite heroic. 

 

Otto piloted the walker down the street and out of the town towards the hole that they had come through, followed by several cars and trucks full of people.  A path had been cut through the field from the road to the hole, twice as wide as the walker needed.  Heinz remarked “They must anticipate a lot of traffic in the future.”  The walker and the caravan followed the path.  

 

At the hole, two poles topped with white cloth streamers had been driven into the ground to mark its location, and a section about 20 meters square had been cut next to the path.  The townspeople parked there, and got out to watch the walker leave.  Tommy self-importantly shouted for everyone to stay back, ‘in case something dangerous happened’.

 

Hermann loaded the cannon, and worked the loaders for the machine guns.  Everyone settled themselves, Miriam in a seat added next to the commander’s chair, and Amunet in one added next to Hermann’s position.  Heinz took a deep breath and ordered the walker forward, through the hole.

 

Instantly, the light outside was replaced by deep darkness.  Hermann felt a strange sensation, like stepping through a door into cold air.  It quickly passed, though he could tell he was someplace different.  He turned to Amunet, and saw she was blinking in confusion.  “Are you alright?”

 

“Dizzy for a moment, I’m okay now.”

 

Hermann clicked the intercom.  “Is everyone else alright?”  He heard assorted groans and grunts, then Heinz answered him.

 

“We’re alright, just confused.  Are we in the right place?  Otto, searchlight.”

 

Otto turned on the searchlight and swept it around.  They saw trees that looked like what they remembered.  He carefully navigated back to the road, then to where the other walker had been.  There was a burned patch in the forest, about forty meters across, and the trees outside of that for another twenty or so meters were missing most of their leaves.  In the center of the damage lay the wreckage of the other walker.  The legs were identifiable, and some of the cabin was still attached.  Most of it was scattered around in fragments.

 

“Any sign of the dragon?”  Heinz asked.  They peered through the ports as Otto scanned the area with the searchlight.  Nothing moved except leaves in the wind.  “Let’s look for bodies, or anything that’s identifiable.  Hermann, Miriam, Amunet, stay on the walker.  Keep your eyes out for the dragon, or anything else.”

 

They searched the wreckage and the surrounding area for an hour, finding two bodies and several body parts, the dog tags of all the crew members,  and the identification plate for the walker. They were preparing to bury the bodies when Hermann spotted something in the sky.

 

“Incoming, think it's the dragon!” He started to ready the loaded shell, when suddenly the dragon shouted something, full of hisses and guttural sounds, but with the cadence of speech.

 

Heinz shouted “Hold your fire!”  The dragon landed about thirty meters from them and shouted again. “Talar du detta sprahk?” Hermann frowned; that almost made sense. Heinz shrugged elaborately. The dragon responded “Do tibi hanc linguam?”

 

“Latin?” Heinz said, astonished. This was, in fact, the Latin for ‘can you speak this language’. He shouted back in Latin “Yes, we can understand this language.”

 

The dragon sat on its haunches, like a dog. They could see the wound on its chest: the central half was missing scales and covered with a huge scab.  Hermann saw that he had overestimated its size: its body was only about 15 meters long, with another 10 meters of tail. He could also sense that it was not native to this world, nor to any world he knew so far.

 

The dragon said “Good, then I can apologize for attacking you, and for killing the crew of your other battle-wagon. I was angry and confused, I thought that my treasure had been stolen. After a few days rest, I now see that instead  _ I _ have been stolen.”  It looked sadly at the remains of the walker.  “I will pay what blood money you feel appropriate, once I get back to my treasure, that is.”

 

On hearing this speech (or its translation) the crew members were astonished. Heinz looked at it for a moment, then answered “We accept your apology, especially since we injured you in exchange. Help would be more useful than money at the moment, though. We need to know about this place. What can you tell us?”

 

The dragon stroked its chin and said “I can draw you a map of this area, having flown over it looking for my cave.”

 

“Good, but we need to finish burying the bodies.”

 

“Pardon me for interrupting. I hope they are feasting in Valhalla today,” the dragon said politely. 

 

Heinz looked at the dragon strangely, but thanked it and turned back to the wreckage. The walker crew dug a large hole and carefully moved the bodies and the pieces into the hole. Heinz spoke a few words from the Catholic mass for the dead, while Amunet quietly chanted a prayer in Egyptian. Everyone threw in a handful of dirt, including the dragon, then the crew filled in the hole and placed a wooden marker on it. 

 

“Allow me to introduce myself. In your language you would call me Firebridge Lake-drier, son of Steel-melter Far-flyer and River-drinker Wind-caller.” said the dragon. “Firebridge for short.”  Heinz introduced the rest of the crew, and they gathered around a clear patch of ground. 

 

“This place is surrounded by a circular gray wall that goes up as far as I flew, though it becomes transparent after three of my lengths.  I think it’s actually a dome.” Firebridge drew a circle three meters across on the ground. “There are several towns, populated by humans, it looks like, though I didn't look closely.” He added six marks resembling houses with peaked roofs. “There are also a few score farmhouses, none near here.  This forest fills about a quarter of the circle.”  He drew a series of leaf shapes over part of the map.

 

As he drew this, Miriam copied it onto a page in a journal, with notes on the facing page. “How far across is the circle?” Heinz asked. 

 

Firebridge considered this. “I flew across it in less than a quarter of a night, but I am not sure what that would be in human terms. If we had some comparison ….”  His head suddenly snapped up and around. “Be wary! A fire spirit comes!”

 

They looked around wildly,  most of them drawing their guns, but saw nothing.  Hermann did not even see the aura of a creature from another world.  Heinz looked up into the air and said “I don’t think it's hostile, yet.”   _ Invisible spirits, now? _ Hermann thought. 

Firebridge snorted. “Indeed not. It says it is sent by a wizard to determine our intentions.”  He spoke to the air in a hissing language, then listened for a moment.  “It says that the wizard wishes to speak, but would prefer that I, in particular, leave quickly. That is understandable.” He chuckled. 

 

Hermann spoke up. “We came from another world through a hole in the wall. If the wizard knows where those are, you could go back to your world through the right one.”

 

Firebridge translated this for the fire spirit.  “It says that there are four gates in the wall, at north, south, east, and west, but the wizard doesn't know how to open them. The gate at the west shouldn't be far from here; we can start checking there.”

 

“The one at the west leads to Locust Ridge; we just came through there.  We can start with the, uh, gate at the south,” Heinz said. “Hermann can open that gate, and if it is your world, you can go back. We can visit you later.”  Hermann thought ‘ _ gate’, that sounds like a much better word than “hole’; let’s use that from now on. _

 

Firebridge spoke to the spirit, then translated. “The wizard says he will meet us when he can get here.  He is now far to the north. The spirits will let him know where we are. Hmm, I thought I smelled a lot of air spirits around.”

 

They climbed back into the walker and followed Firebridge as he flew southeast.  After a few hours travel at a run for the walker, they saw the wall ahead, and Otto turned to follow the wall east.  A half kilometre away Hermann saw the gate, shaped like a round-topped door 20 meters high and 10 wide.  He called to Otto and directed him to stop about 20 meters away.

 

“We just travelled 113 kilometres, so that makes the circle, uh …” said Otto.

 

Miriam responded “The circle is 160 kilometres in diameter and 503 in circumference, assuming a straight line and a perfect circle.”  Otto blinked at her in surprise.  She hadn't used paper and pencil, or even a slide rule, just given the answer immediately.  “I'm good at doing math in my head,” she said quietly. 

 

Hermann climbed down and approached the gate, followed by Firebridge. At the gate, he pointed his finger at it and ordered it to open. Instantly, the silvery fog wavered and cleared to reveal a snow-covered landscape gleaming in the sun. Firebridge thrust his head towards the gate, and breathed deeply.  “Ah, that’s my home!”  The dragon charged through the gate and leaped joyously into the snow. “Yes, this is the magic I was born to! If any of you ever need anything I can give you,  just ask!”  He plucked a scale from his chest, breathed on it deeply, and handed it back through the gate to Hermann. “Just step into this world, hold this up, and call me. Farewell!”  He turned, leaped into the air and flew away. 

 

Hermann gazed through the gate for a moment, seeing the difference between the world they were in and Firebridge’s world.  Finally, feeling a strain, as if he were holding a heavy weight, he willed the gate to close.  It silvered over to match the rest of the wall, and the strain ceased. 

 

As Hermann climbed back into the walker, Heinz ordered “Let’s head for the gate on the east side.  If that’s not it, then we’ll head for the north, and let the wizard meet up with us.  It sounds like he knows more than we do, which right now isn’t much.”

 

They headed northeast, at first through thinning forest, then emerging into grazing land and cultivated fields. Otto kept to the roads, simple dirt with no paving, but frequently with low stone walls on one or both sides.  They were wide enough for two farm wagons to pass, but not enough for the walker to pass a wagon.   _ Good thing it's the middle of the night now _ , Otto thought _. _  Ahead of them was a town, barely visible by a lantern carried by someone walking the streets.  Heinz ordered Otto to bypass the town. This took almost a quarter of an hour; he had to work his way around, trying to avoid fields and small buildings.

 

They were about halfway to the eastern gate at sunrise. Heinz ordered a brief pause to look around with binoculars and eat the lunch that Kim had packed.  They verified the approximate location of two more of the towns.  Continuing on, they began to see people working in the fields or riding in horse-drawn carts carrying one or two people. They avoided these people, who either took wide detours around them or fled on sight.  

 

About an hour after sunrise, they reached the eastern gate.  Hermann found that he could sense the direction of the gate once they were within a kilometre or so; he was able to guide Otto directly to the gate.

 

“Commander, Otto, I’m going to try to open the gate from inside the walker.”  Heinz assented to this experiment, and Hermann willed the gate open.  It sparkled and cleared, revealing bare rock stretching away for about 10 meters, then a drop off to sand and reddish rock, all of it bathed in brilliant sunlight.  No buildings, vegetation, or animals were visible.  They gazed at this for a moment, then Hermann closed the gate. Without a word spoken, Otto turned the walker and started away.

 

They headed northwest, moving at a walk, since there were more farms, fields, and people about.  All the people stayed at a distance but watched them warily, many of them clutching rifles. About halfway to the north gate, they heard rapid hoofbeats ahead. Heinz ordered Otto to stop and move to the side of the road at a spot slightly wider than usual.  A moment later two riders on horseback came into view, galloping.  They slowed down when they saw the walker, and came to a stop about twenty meters away.

 

“Hallo, the travellers,” one of them shouted in English.  Heinz and Hermann descended from the walker. The shouter was a middle aged man, wearing a rust red cloak, a large round hat, and leather boots; he dismounted when they started down. The other rider was a woman wearing a similar cloak (brown) and boots, with a bonnet decorated with embroidered vines and leaves. She remained on her horse, holding the reins of the man’s horse.  Both of them wore expressions of calm curiosity. Heinz held his hands out to the sides, showing them empty, and waited for them to speak. Hermann followed suit.

 

The man spread his arms as Heinz had done and spoke in English. “I am Robert Mather, an elder in the town of Lewis Run.  This is my daughter,  Constance, who is skilled in languages and philosophy. We welcome you to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.”

 

Hermann responded “This is Heinz Paesche, Commander of this vehicle; I am Hermann Mickler.”  He gestured to the Stormwalker.  “We come in peace, seeking to return to our native land, from which we wandered during the great storm recently.”  They and Robert advanced to meet between the two groups, and shook hands. At Heinz’ prompting, he continued “I think that you are the wizard whose spirit agent contacted us earlier.”

 

Robert smiled and Constance laughed.  “Aha! My disguise is penetrated, my identity revealed!” Robert responded.  He swept off his hat and bowed dramatically. “You see before you the resident Master of the Element of Fire, and my companion is a Master of Earth. We are the leaders of the most powerful coven in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts!”

  
  



End file.
